Friday, July 25, 2008

We close on the house today!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I can't tell you how excited I am! I'm sad I won't have my computer for a few days but it will be SOOOOO worth it. My gosh I can't wait!

So I guess all this energy has my creative side going. I did one layout last night and one the night before. But then again my little subjects are fun to scrap so that makes it easy too. I just feel like such a lucky mommy to have such sweet and cute kiddos.

And you have to go and check out the new hit Amy Sumrall and Krystal Hartley have done. It is SOOOOO precious. Makes me want to have little girls. But hey...I do have a girls shopping trip coming up very soon...will have to make sure to take some photos that day.

And forgot to metion that sorry there is no Friday Freebie today. But I do promise to make it up to you after all the crazy moving stuff is over. :) So many ideas...so little time...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Here is a real treat for those of you who are needing to scrap all those beach photos. This free add-on was created by Ladybug to coordinate with A Fish Tale. She is one of our new designers at My Scrap Shop, so while you are there, be sure to check out her store. Thanks Ladybug!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

My little one is still not feeling well. Cameron was icky yesterday with a stuffy nose but seems to be okay today. Noah however just wanted to snuggle all morning...didn't play much at all. That makes me worry. I am hoping it was because he didn't sleep much after 4 am and just needed a nap. I did call the doctor yesterday and they said it can last up to 10 days! I hope not because I hate seeing my kiddos not feeling well. Love that he wants to snuggle and all but hate that it is because of this.

Well, since I will be very, very busy this Friday I am going to have to get busy and finish up what I will have for Friday. Can you say alpha? I have always wanted to make an alpha and this week I am going to give it a shot. Just have to figure out what else to go along with it. Maybe I will start with the alpha and make a whole kit. Who knows.

I did finally figure out how to start making shapes and such in PSE. Not as easy as I thought it would be so I need practice. He, he. I am also a template gal. I love using templates for layouts. Although admittedly I don't use them as often as I thought I would. Strange but true. I will start with a template and then just can't seem to get it to work with what I am trying to accomplish so deviate away from it...as in it no longer even resembles the template. So...maybe that means I need to make my own or something. Discovering masks was a very powerful thing indeed!

Also need to download the photos from my camera and get that all taken care of. Hmm...will be busy tonight if the kiddos actually go to sleep at their usual time. Since I will be without internet for a few days soon need to get as much done as I can today and tomorrow. It will be for a wonderful reason though!

Monday, July 21, 2008

It's a bright and sunny day here...makes me all cheery and such. Part of that cheeriness may be from the fact that I only have FIVE DAYS TO GO!!!!!!! Okay, I won't keep talking about it but I really can't help myself. :)

About ten years or so ago I got into rubber stamping. My friend Jill had been doing it for a while and I had gone to visit her one December and she was getting ready to make her Christmas cards. I asked if she would show me how to do it too. So we spent the whole weekend making a million trips to Michael's and back and playing with ink, paper and stamps. That is where my obsession began.

For a while I just had a little shoe box of stuff and didn't do much with it. My cards were not the prettiest then. That continued on for a couple years I think. Then, around 2001 or so I found Stampin' Up and fell in LOVE. I even became a demonstrator for them...although more to get the discount to feed my obsession than anything else.

So, here I am almost ten years later and am loving how this has evolved over the years. I am addicted to digital now but want to possibly start doing hybrid projects once I get settled int he new place and unpacked. I have seen so many beautiful hybrid projects lately and don't want all my paper stuff to just sit there and collect dust. :)

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Wow...the weekend flew by. Neither of my little ones are feeling 100%. I am starting to wonder if they both picked something up the day we got shots...it all began the day after their shots last week so it makes me wonder. I did call the pediatrician about Cameron yesterday and she said she had never heard of the shots causing the reaction he is having. Hmm... She did say it could just be a virus, she had seen them cause the reaction he is having.

So, hard for me to describe what is happening. He is just turning red really easily. Like his face when I took his shirt off the other night had a bog red streak across it. Looks like someone had scratched him. But then in 5-15 minutes it is gone. Very strange.

Noah is having some tummy troubles. Poor little guy isn't eating well...which of course makes me nervous a) because he is so small anyway and b) his Hirschsprung's. I know I shouldn't worry but I can't help it...I'm their mother! So if things aren't better with both of them by tomorrow I will be calling to see if we should go and see the doctor. Fun, fun.

No scraping this weekend. I did some organizing of files and such yesterday and today has been busy. Only 3 hours of sleep last night so going to bed early tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed they both sleep through the night tonight. Noah has started waking and just wanting me to hold him. My friend Cathy has had this go on with her daughter for like a month...guess it's my turn now. And of course if Cameron sees me leave the room with Noah he gets upset too. So it's a catch 22. If I catch Noah before he wakes Cameron all is well. But if not...not so fun. So, really hope they both sleep tonight.

Only one more week. This time next week we will be in our own house and I will probably be unpacking. I just realized the other day I will be without internet a while. Not sure when they will be setting up the connection and such. Since it goes through my hubby and his job he has to set it up. And he is taking a week off for the move so not in a hurry to have it set up. Oh well...some time without my computer will do me good I guess. It will force me to stay focused on the unpacking at least. I am even considering taking the thing in for a check up and to have some more memory added...if it is possible that is. It needs some TLC anyway. :)

Okay, off to see who is the Next Food Network Star and get some sleep! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Nah, it's my friend Pam (aka The Ladybug Pages) with her new shop open at My Scrap Shop! You have to check it out. She has some cute stuff and I loved her Summer Fun kit with it's beautiful summer colors. Made this cute little page and you can pick it up here.

And to celebrate her grand opening she is having a 40% off sale. So go pick up this cool kit and see what else she has over there...you won't be disappointed. :) And of course this is the page I did using it.

We did go by the house today and I forgot my camera! Silly me. But that's okay because after this weekend you will get sick of seeing pictures of my new place I am sure. But hey, I'll have something other than my kiddos to scrap for a change. He, he...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

One of my poor babies was sick today. I am really hoping it was just from the shots yesterday. Although they have never gotten sick like this before. They have been a little cranky but never actually sick to the point of throwing up. Poor little guy! He was playing and such today, just not as happy as usual. So we passed on the fun splash pad adventure we had planned for this afternoon. Bummer.

I did get this great little layout done of a friend of mines little girl. This is actually a photo from New Year's Day that I had been wanting to do something with. I used Amy Sumrall's Sumeroo (which is going to be released soon) for this one. I am really digging that kit. Has lots of fun goodies and I love the colors! The glitter overlay is Flergs.

And of course I have to do a freebie for Friday (I know it's Thursday night but it will be Friday in 45 more minutes and busy day tomorrow). MCA Designs has these really cool overlays in her current grab bag and I couldn't resist making these papers with them. I fell in love with experimenting with textures and the overlays. It was a great way to learn some blending techniques. So I used MCA Designs Grab Gab #4 and also some items (textures mainly) from her 2nd and 3rd Grab Bags as well which are now for sale in the store. Enjoy! And as always would love to see what you make with them if you. Grab them here.

Hope you all have a great weekend...I'll be dreaming of next weekend when we finally make the move into a house again! And I'll also be swinging by to check on the progress of it so will snap some more pictures to share.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

We took the boys for their 18 month check up today (2 weeks late). I can't believe how big they are getting! Cameron was 25 lbs. 8 oz. and 33.5 inches. Noah was 23 lbs. 4 oz. and 33 inches. And just as cute as can be! Only 2 shots today. We are waiting on their last few until their 2 year check up. I just couldn't give them 5 shots today!

I liked the new pediatrician. He was nice and gave me some great advice for dealing with discipline, etc. The only real problems we are having with the boys is biting and screeching. I would like to put an end to the biting the most because once we start back to classes and they start Mother's Day Out I will worry about them biting another child...or the teacher! So far it has only been myself, M or each other. But they do well with positive reinforcement and his plan uses just that. Very happy to hear that one!

Didn't get to work on much today with regards to scrapping. We had a busy, busy day. And tomorrow will be much the same. However, I am finishing up a freebie for Friday. You can however get this great freebie here on Thursday, July 17th only. Very, very cute brag book pages from MLucas. They are just too adorable!

And you can also save 25% off the kit from MCA Designs used to make these great pages HERE. I just love this series of kits. They are so versatile and I have seen so many different things done with them. Love the circles and those are awesome stacked or used around photos. So go, have fun playing!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I am so proud of myself tonight. I had promised myself that I would not wait until December to start making my 2009 calendar. I wanted to do each month as the year went along but life had other plans for me. :) Plus I couldn't find a 2009 calendar anywhere to use as a template with regards to being a PSD file.

Well to night I finally just sat down and made one myself. I am so excited! It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be...just time consuming. I went ahead and made a template that I could use for each month for every year from here on out. Woo-hoo! So I at least started working on January and just am so proud I finally got something started early for a change. Have no idea why I am such a procrastinator when it comes to certain things but I am. I work better under pressure and I am trying like crazy to change that about myself. Even if I set a deadline for myself I know it is just a personal thing so kind of blow it off. But reality is starting to sink in that I have two cute little toddlers that take up my time so I better get my rear in gear!

And speaking of cute toddlers...here they are playing today.

They are obsessed with cars now...especially Cameron. It is so funny to me. That is almost all he plays with right now. He has these cars that my sister actually got him started on. She gave them each one and at first I think they were a little too young to really understand. But after a while they would carry those things around and fight over them because they each wanted one in each hand. It was the funniest thing to me. So I went out and bought two more so they could each have one in each hand. Still not good enough really so I picked one up another day, so now they have five total. I need to find the ones somewhere they do not have and pick the rest of them up. They just LOVE these things! They also have a few of the miniature ones like then as well and will go back and forth between the two sizes. It just cracks me up.

I also worked on a freebie tonight that I am going to post later this week. Still have a few things to finish up and trying to decide if I want to just do the one particular thing or make a little set. Not sure yet. Guess it will depend on how much time I have to devote to it the rest of the week. :) So check back later, k.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Another Monday down. Only 11 more days to go until house closing! Just pray all goes according to plan and there are no delays.

I finally finished my final lesson for the digi scrapping class I have been taking. I have to say I LOVE Jessica Sprague classes and plan to take the next one as well. I learned so many short cuts and new things I am amazed. I knew the class was going to be good but it far exceeded my expectations. Very pleasantly surprised.

So this layout is one that I have had a hard time with. I have wanted to document Noah's stay in the hospital shortly after they were born but just could never come up with the right thing. I think this one documents it nicely. And it was an added bonus that I did this for the lesson too. :)So now I have a few days to make my next freebie and work on some more layouts. I have so many ideas and so little time. Ugh! Can they make a 36 hour day just once a week or something? That or could they make it to where I don't require sleep. That would actually probably be the better solution. I really wish I was one of those people who could get by on less than 8 hours of sleep...I can't.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Well, it has been raining here all morning so far. Which isn't always a bad thing. It has been nice playing with the boys and just chillin. They are growing way too fast for my liking if truth be told. But I am excited to take them this week for their 18 month check up (I know, just 2 weeks late) and find out just how big they have gotten.

A big thank you to those of you who left such sweet comments about the kit. I am glad you liked it and hopefully as I continue to learn they will just get better and better! Any ideas you have for kits you would like to see just let me know. I am always looking for ideas.

I actually got three pages scrapped yesterday! I couldn't believe it! I hardly ever get to finish one page in a day much less three! I decided to do the Template Challenge over at My Scrap Shop so I was determined to get it finished in one sitting since it was a template. :) And Sir Scrapalot had a great template this month so it was even easier! So this is what I ended up with. It's always fun for me to see just every day moments with my kiddos down on paper. I hope that years from now they can enjoy looking at them just as much as I do. Credits: Red paper is from the Let's Connect Collab kit, Brown paper and Stitches are from Colie's Corner, and the Brush was from Michelle Coleman. Font is Adler.

And this little layout was from Amy Sumrall's soon to be releases Sumeroo kit. Very cute kit and should be released very soon.So today I am hoping to get to go and look at the house and see what progress has happened since last week and also look at refrigerators this weekend. I hear Sears is having a good sale. May have to load up the kiddos and go take a look after their nap. And hopefully some time this weekend I will get to working on another freebie for you. This time I think I am going to use Mel's (MCA Designs) new grab bag she has out. I am in love with her stuff and can't wait to play since I just picked it up the other day.

Friday, July 11, 2008

My boys have finally discovered they love to climb. They have been climbing for a while but I have not encouraged it. Well, the last two weeks they have decided they like doing it and who cares what mommy thinks. :) I knew Cameron was in the pantry today (will be so very happy to have a regular door again in two more weeks!) and all of the sudden I just knew something was up. Sure enough, I rounded the corner and he is climbing the shelves! Oh no...I am in for it now. He tried it again later and I put a very quick end to that one. They are smart little boogers I have to say. He knows to move a box or something in front so he can use that to step up. Hmm...pretty soon they will be outsmarting me in a lot of ways I am sure.

Okay, I finally took the plunge and made some things for the first time other than papers that I made with overlays. Now I am not saying I will end up being a fantastic designer or anything like that but this intrigues me. I want to learn. I like to learn. I need to learn. I just have to understand things for some strange reason. And it's fun to give things away. :) So I am hoping to start doing at least a Friday Freebie. I am having fun playing around and I always need a good challenge.

I used Sir Scrapalot'sGrab Bag #2 to make this cute little mini. Got some very cute goodies in there and seeing the stars with it just being the 4th of July made me feel all patriotic. So hopefully you can do some 4th pictures with it. :) And if you do use it for something please let me see what ya made. I would be so honored to have someone use something I make in their layouts and would love to show it off here too!

You can download here or click on the picture. I still need to do some TOU but for now just enjoy and use it for what you see fit. I would also welcome any feedback!!!!! Good, bad or indifferent. I am just now starting to learn how to do this and have such a LONG way to go!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wow...I really need to do some spiffying up of my blog. It has been so neglected. Must make that a priority and make it shiny again. :)

It is time for another sale and freebie from Mel at MCA Designs. This week we have a mini kit add-on to the "Counting Flies" kit!! In this kit, you get two alphas and three elements that coordinate nicely with the "Counting Flies"kit. This week's freebie is brought to you by Ladybug! Remember, this gorgeous freebie is only available for download on Thursday, 10 July!!! Here is the preview and the link:

And, for those of you who absolutely love this adorable kit--which, by the way, is perfect for all your little boys out there--then you will love the other parts of this kit! They are on sale at My Scrap Shop for 25% off!! Here is the previews of the other parts and remember to click on the links below to get yours today!!!!!

And if she hasn't been busy enough, MCA Designs has released her next Grab Bag! I have gotten a peek inside and I can tell you it is just as fabulous as her first two were. So run over and pick it up at MSS. You won't be disappointed!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Well, I was down hard yesterday. Finally caught the bug that has been going around our house. Yuck! But I did finally get some sleep. Could hardly stay awake to be honest. Still not 100% today but feeling better than yesterday for sure!

Was working on a page the other night I will need to finish up today. And of course I have to do more freebies. Those are really kind of addictive. Hmm...strange how that works. After the boys go to bed tonight and I get everything cleaned up I will at least try and finish up one thing to share. Fun, fun. Have a great day!

Friday, July 4, 2008

You asked for it, and now it's here. Sir Scrapalot has just released his second grab bag! It's packed full with six brand new CU products! He even mentioned something about "Flair" buttons... you should definitely check it out. It's only $4.00!!! Pick it up here. And I just found out that today only is is 40% off!!!!! You can pick this little baby up for only $2.40. :)

You'll have to check back later for some goodies I make with it. I am going to go pick ut up now. :) Have a great 4th of July!!!!!!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Get this great Add-on set created by Zan, MCA Design Team Member for FREE today only. It coordinates with MCA Designs' "I Love Music" kit which is also 25% off. Hurry over to My Scrap Shop because these two offers are only available on Thursday, July 3rd!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I ran by the new place today after getting my hair cut (yeah!). It's coming along very nicely. I am actually getting excited about it finally. I guess it is feeling more real now that they are getting closer to being finished. One little hitch was they installed an electric stove when we had requested gas. Everything else was fine so it seemed. Here are a few quick shots I took.

The living room:

The master bedroom:

View from the master bathroom:

View from upstairs of front foray:

Love the front entrace...just a beautiful looking entrance to me. More pictures to come...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Never separate a boy from his puppy! Even if it is a stuffed one. I have been trying to get the thing from him to wash it but that is not going to happen. The directions to wash this thing say to freeze it for 24 hours before washing. There is no way he is going to part with it for that long. Ha! I did wash it's little shirt though. :)

The kit I used was Rachel's DesignsJuniper Forest. Okay, I am such a paper freak and LOVED the papers in this kit. I am also a sucker for things for the edges of papers and that was just way too cute not to use.